Purpose

Lab 1

The purpose of the lab was to find out which curdling agent produces cheese at the fastest rate.

Lab 2

The purpose of the lab was to find out how cheese production rates are affected by the amount of

milk used to produce the cheese.

Lab 3

The purpose of the lab was to find the macromolecules in cheese.

Hypothesis

Lab 1

If we perform the lab, then we will find that FPC is the fastest curdling agent.

Lab 2

If we perform the lab, then we will find that cheese production rates are not affected by the

amount of milk.

Lab 3

If we perform the lab, then we will find that cheese contains protein and fat.

Procedure

Lab 1

1. Label 4 6-mL tubes with agent and group number.

2. Using a large pipet, transfer 3 mL of milk to each tube.

 3. Using a small pipet, transfer 100 L of FPC to the first tube. Using a different pipet,

transfer 100 L of natural chymosin to the second tube. Repeat this process with

buttermilk and water and the third and fourth tubes.

4. Invert the tubes three times and transfer them to an armpit for incubation.

5. Set a timer and check for curdling every 5 min by inverting the tubes and checking for

curds.

6. Record the time when the milk in each tube curdles or solidifies.

7. If milk in a tube doesn't curdle in 30 min, check every hour.

8. Record the time when the milk in each tube curdles or solidifies.

9. During the next work period, determine the number of curds produced by each treatment.

10. Weigh a paper cone.

11. Transfer curds to a labeled filter paper cone over a collection vessel. Once it drains, dry

the cone and curds overnight.

12. Weigh the dry cone with curds. Subtract the weight of the cone. Record the weight of the

curds.

13. Repeat with each agent.

14. Create a data table that reports curd production rate (mg/min) by each agent.

15. Create a bar graph of the data table.

Lab 2

1. Label 4 6-mL tubes with agent and group number.

2. Using a large pipet, transfer 1 mL of milk to each tube.

 3. Using a small pipet, transfer 100 L of FPC to the first tube. Using a different pipet,

transfer 100 L of natural chymosin to the second tube. Repeat this process with

buttermilk and water and the third and fourth tubes.

4. Invert the tubes three times and transfer them to an armpit for incubation.

5. Set a timer and check for curdling every 5 min by inverting the tubes and checking for

curds.

6. Record the time when the milk in each tube curdles or solidifies.

7. If milk in a tube doesn't curdle in 30 min, check every hour.

8. Record the time when the milk in each tube curdles or solidifies.

9. During the next work period, determine the number of curds produced by each treatment.

10. Weigh a paper cone.

11. Transfer curds to a labeled filter paper cone over a collection vessel. Once it drains, dry

the cone and curds overnight.

12. Weigh the dry cone with curds. Subtract the weight of the cone. Record the weight of the

curds.

13. Repeat with each agent.

14. Create a data table that reports curd production rate (mg/min) by each agent.

15. Create a bar graph of the data table.

Lab 3

1. Separate the curds from the cone, crush them into powder, and divide it into four test

tubes. Add 2 mL of deionized water to each test tube.

 2. In one test tube, add 2 mL of Benedicts solution and heat it for 2 min in a boiling hot

water bath (100 mL of water in a 250-mL beaker at 100C) and record its color when it

changes.

3. In another test tube, add 0.5 mL of Lugols iodine and record its color when it changes.

4. In another test tube, add 2 mL of Biurets solution and record its color when it changes.

5. In another test tube, add 0.25 mL of Sudan IV and record its color when it changes.

Data

Lab 1

Agent Time Cone and Cone Weight Curd Weight Rate

Curd Weight

FPC 5m 1.36g 1.14g 0.22g 44mg/m

NCB 20m 1.38g 1.14g 0.24g 12mg/m

Buttermilk 1440m 1.45g 1,14g 0.31g 0.2mg/m

Water 1440m 1.39g 1.14g 0.25g 0.2mg/m

Click here for the class data table.

Lab 2

Agent Time Cone and Cone Weight Curd Weight Rate

Curd Weight

FPC 4m 1.31g 1.14g 0.17g 42.5mg/m

NCB 1440m 1.51g 1.14g 0.31g 0.3mg/m

Lab 3

Macromolecule Results

Glucose Yes

Starch No
 Protein Yes

Fat Yes
Analysis

Lab 1

I observed that FPC is the fastest curdling agent, then NCB, then Buttermilk and Water.

Click here for the class chart. I observe that FPC is the fastest curdling agent, then NCB, then

Water, then Buttermilk. My hypothesis was correct because I thought FPC would be the fastest

curdling agent, and it was. An error was that Buttermilk and Water were only checked every day

rather than every hour. To improve the lab, we could redo the lab, but check every hour. This

does lead us to further investigations.

Lab 2
 I observed that for FPC, the results do not differ much from Lab 1. For NCB, curdling

time was much slower; however, this is probably due to human error. My hypothesis was correct

because I thought nothing would change, and nothing did. An error was that NCB was only

checked every day rather than every hour. To improve the lab, we could redo the lab, but check

every hour. This does lead us to further investigations.

Lab 3

No chart is necessary to represent the data. I observed that cheese contains glucose,

protein, and fat. My hypothesis was incorrect because I didnt think cheese contained glucose,

but it does. An error was that the amount of cheese may not have been large enough to guarantee

accurate results. To improve the lab, we could redo the lab, but use more cheese. However, this

doesnt lead us to further investigations because our results were still accurate.
 Conclusion

My overall discovery was that the most effective way to curdle cheese is with FPC. The

experiment performed to find this was Lab 1, because I couldnt find a discovery that was based

on all three labs. Lab 1 was the lab in which we tested four curdling agents on milk to see which

would curdle the most cheese at the fastest rate. Evidence for this claim is that the milk with FPC

curdled faster than the others with a rate of 44mg/m. NCB curdled at a rate of only 12mg/m.

Both FPC and NCB curdled faster than Buttermilk and Water, both of which took over an hour

to curdle. The evidence means that FPC is the fastest curdling agent. The science theory behind

this is that FPC is produced in the same way as natural chymosin, the enzyme produced by

ruminant mammals that curdles the casein in milk, but in a more effective way which involves

using bacteria or fungi to produce it during fermentation. Another data point is that in the class

average, FPC curdled faster than the others with a rate of 178mg/m, over 170 more than the

second fastest agent, NCB. This proves that FPC is the fastest curdling agent.